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Nancy Kathryn Walecki

@nancywalecki.bsky.social
13K followers 88 following 63 posts

Staff writer at The Atlantic. Seventh-generation Californian, daughter of a music-store owner. Mark 8:36.

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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Everyone should work in the service industry at some pt. I just saw a dish included microgreens and was instantly rocketed back to working at a restaurant in Malibu, where a woman told me she was allergic to microgreens and her husband whispered to me after "she just says that for attention."
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I embedded at an adult summer camp of women in their 20s through their 80s hoping to make new friends. The 60-something women of Cabin 3 and I danced, swam, went down the water slide, discussed mortality, then raged to Smash Mouth. www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/...
theatlantic.com
The Golden Girls, but in a Camp Cabin
My weekend at adult summer camp
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 31/08/2026
At Camp Social, friendship has no preamble, @nancywalecki.bsky.social writes. She reports on her weekend at an adult summer camp for women hoping to make new friends, and the bond—and high jinks—she saw among a group of campers in their 50s and 60s.
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The Golden Girls, but in a Camp Cabin
My weekend at adult summer camp
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I kind of feel like all of heaven is having a huge party right now, welcoming Dolly Parton into the fold.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
If you want to know what this fire season has been like, talk to the ranchers spending 36 straight hours on military surplus dozers from the Vietnam War... so I did! Best part of reporting this story was trying to get ranchers to brag about themselves :) www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...
theatlantic.com
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Airplane WiFi is starting to get super good. Please read my silly little ode to bad airplane wifi and why we might miss our last bastion of unreachability: www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/...
theatlantic.com
Our Last Wi-Fi-Less Refuge Is Gone
Subpar connectivity on airplanes was a gift, in a way.
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 13/08/2026
Flying was once a rare, bounded period of time untethered from the world below—but good plane Wi-Fi is taking that luxury away, @nancywalecki.bsky.social writes.
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Airplane Wi-Fi Is Great Now!
Oh no.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Today is my first day as a staff writer at The Atlantic!! Please send any story ideas, wild tales, and people to profile my way! I'm thinking of my beat very broadly as "different people's attempts at the good life," whether through religion, wellness, etc. Excited to be here @theatlantic.com !
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Definitely one of the goofiest assignments I’ve gotten and a total delight to report. Thank you to the paleontologists who spent this smoky summer Friday chatting with me about the smoky skies 66 million years ago! And let’s all be grateful we aren’t dinosaurs.
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The Atlantic Communications @theatlanticpr.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
We are announcing four new roles and promotions at The Atlantic: Marc Novicoff, @nancywalecki.bsky.social, Michael Zelenko, and James Kirchick. More info here: www.theatlantic.com/press-releas...
theatlantic.com
The Atlantic Announces Marc Novicoff and Nancy Walecki as Staff Writers, Michael Zelenko as Senior Editor, and James Kirchick as Contributing Writer
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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 10/07/2026
Really like this piece by @nancywalecki.bsky.social about resurrecting old tech—and I’ve also recently been wondering whether the AI-driven RAMpocalypse will drive more people to vintage tech, further assert the importance of repairability, etc.
theatlantic.com
The Newest Way to Go Analog
Digital devices from a less connected era are getting a second life.
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 09/07/2026
The iPod and other devices from a less connected era are getting a second life, @nancywalecki.bsky.social reports. She explores why some Gen Zers are joining the recent “analog” movement:
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The Newest Way to Go Analog
Digital devices from a less connected era are getting a second life.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
This is a real shame these ads are getting taken off air. My dad was featured in the most recent CDC Tips from a Former Smoker campaign, sharing what smoking and his laryngectomy took from him and my family. Namely, his voice: www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/u...
nytimes.com
Efforts to Help Smokers Quit Stall Under Trump
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 23/05/2026
If the point of a perfume is not just to smell nice but also to project an identity, Brittany Aldean is selling the vision of a conservative woman who has it all, @nancywalecki.bsky.social argues—she reports on the influencer's new fragrance line:
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A Perfume With a Whiff of MAGA
Brittany Aldean’s Vada perfume codes conservative because she herself does.
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Dr Katie Gaddini @drkatiegaddini.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
"By and large, Gaddini has found that young Christian women want to be a wife and a mother and have a high-powered job." Engaging and nuanced piece by @nancywalecki.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com today. Check it out here: www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/...
theatlantic.com
A Perfume With a Whiff of MAGA
Brittany Aldean’s Vada perfume codes conservative because she herself does.
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 21/04/2026
More families who can afford it are hiring a “chief of staff for the home,” @nancywalecki.bsky.social writes. She reports on the rise of house-managing businesses, and why some people see the chance to free up their time as worth the money:
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The Rise of the House Manager
More families who can afford it are hiring a “chief of staff for the home.”
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
John Mark Comer’s advice for lost, phone-addicted young Christians is to live, literally, more like Jesus. I spent six months profiling/interviewing Comer and trying out the practices for @theatlantic.com's May print issue www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
Is Hurry the Great Enemy of Spiritual Life?
Pastor John Mark Comer has won a massive audience by encouraging his followers to free themselves from the gnawing sense that there is always more to do.
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 18/04/2026
John Mark Comer’s advice for lost, phone-addicted young Christians might sound like that of any viral wellness personality—but he has a unique framing: the practices of Jesus. @nancywalecki.bsky.social spoke with the pastor and spent six months trying his practices.
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Is Hurry the Great Enemy of Spiritual Life?
Pastor John Mark Comer has won a massive audience by encouraging his followers to free themselves from the gnawing sense that there is always more to do.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
No one—NO ONE—writes like James Parker. This was such a treat to read. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
theatlantic.com
The Eighth Deadly Sin
Humankind has devised a new form of debasement.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Got to write about how Mk.gee is making the guitar sound new again, for @theatlantic.com -- featuring Joni Mitchell, my dad, and a weird guitar device from the 90s. Please read! I had so much fun writing this www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
The Guitar Sounds New Again
The grungy, extraterrestrial “Mk.gee tone” is everywhere and depends on a decades-old device.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Dear New York City: I’m sorry for all the mean things I said to you this winter; spring is lovely.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
I'm deep in some guitar-gear discussion threads right now for a piece I'm writing, and can I just say, I LOVE musicians. People who want to spend all their free time thinking about how to produce the most beautiful sounds possible?? My kind of folks!!!
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
I needed the world to know that Polymarket has an X account for its female traders called @PolyBaddies. My latest for @theatlantic.com : www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
It’s Not Gambling, It’s ‘Girl Math’
Prediction markets are trying to woo women through matcha memes and #girlboss ads.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Best part of writing this was interviewing a 9-year-old who’s already 10x funnier than I’ll ever be
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Oh thank God, Nancy Meyers has returned to save the American rom com 💪
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
A year ago today, Arthur, a loved one of mine, died in the Palisades Fire. Thinking extra today about what a wonderful and bizarre and special person he was. Here's a tribute I wrote to him last Jan: www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...
theatlantic.com
The Place Where I Grew Up Is Gone
And so is the man who made it magical
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 07/01/2026
There are many “For Sale” signs in the Palisades—as well as ones instead promising, “This home will rise again.” @nancywalecki.bsky.social reports on how long a year can feel after a fire:
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The View From the Palisades
A year is only the beginning of recovery from disaster.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
In the Palisades burn scar, I saw many banners and signs the community had placed where their homes and businesses used to be. I keep thinking about one on an elementary school: "Returning January 2028." My report on what my hometown looks like, one year later: www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...
theatlantic.com
The View From the Palisades
A year is only the beginning of recovery from disaster.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
I had a blast with this piece, interviewing such talented jingle writers—including the man who is literally the reason Blue Öyster Cult put more cowbell on “Don’t Fear the Reaper” www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
ChatGPT Needs More Cowbell
AI struggles to write a good jingle.
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Damon Beres @damonberes.com · 24/12/2025
There is something ineffably human about commercial jingles that AI doesn’t seem able to replicate; people just seem to know the difference somehow. Fascinating and fun piece by @nancywalecki.bsky.social
theatlantic.com
ChatGPT Needs More Cowbell
AI struggles to write a good jingle.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
Happy Milo & the Nativity play season to all who celebrate. Has to be one of my favorite videos on the Internet: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhB6...
youtube.com
Milo gets his Nativity part!
YouTube video by Harley Walton
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 25/10/2025
All that stucco, molding, and wood from the East Wing of the White House had to go somewhere. So @nancywalecki.bsky.social tried to find it.
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My Quest to Find the East Wing Rubble
An entire part of the White House can’t just disappear.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
I went on a quest to find the East Wing remnants and turns out some of it may be being turned into a new hole at a golf course?? Enjoy my misadventures for @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...
theatlantic.com
My Quest to Find the East Wing Rubble
An entire part of the White House can’t just disappear.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
About to hit subscribe to this substack with every corpuscle of my being
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Read Elias Wachtel's debut in @theatlantic.com--nuanced + delightful piece about Gen Z switching to dumbphones that somehow also contains a beautiful meditation on the process of religious conversion ?! BRAVO! www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
theatlantic.com
Can Gen Z Get Rid of Its iPhones?
My dumbphone does what an app could never do.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
L.A. announced that it has arrested a suspected arsonist for January's Palisades Fire. But that's changed little for residents, and it hasn't changed how much I miss my loved one who died in the fire. My latest for @theatlantic.com: www.theatlantic.com/science/2025...
theatlantic.com
L.A. Might Finally Know Who Started the Palisades Fire
But it still doesn’t feel like closure.
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PatchieSteve @patchiesteve.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
What a beautiful man, what a beautiful story, an oasis in the dark, and I still have three pages to go. A big thank you for the telling. At one point, it felt like your father was that man in the wizarding world, matching wands to upcoming magicians, except this is music, and utterly more magical
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John B. Graeber @jbgraeber.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
This is fantastic from @nancywalecki.bsky.social & @theatlantic.com. The kind of piece that should exist more in the world. I don't have access to a gift link, but if you've got access to an Atlantic sub I highly recommend. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
theatlantic.com
My Father, Guitar Guru to the Rock Gods
When the greatest musicians of the 1970s needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad was there.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
What! An! Interview!!!! www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/m...
nytimes.com
What Happened to Cameron Crowe? He Has Answers.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Shrieked and told my mom, “MY STORY WAS FEATURED BY LONGREADS!!!!” Big Longreads fan.
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Adrienne LaFrance @adriennelaf.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Quite something to see this all laid out in such stark detail. Excellent reporting from @hana-kiros.bsky.social. Gift link here because everyone should read this: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
theatlantic.com
Inside the USAID Fire Sale
Around the world, defibrillators, motorbikes, and water towers are being donated, sold, or simply abandoned.
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 23/08/2025
Claire's was once a place where tween girls went to be tween girls. Now it's in trouble, @elcush.bsky.social writes: theatln.tc/8D1ts6RS
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Another day, another opportunity to replay the Graham Nash/Joni Mitchell “Our House” demo over and over and over
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
The gizmo Dad uses to speak hasn’t been working, so Mom and I read his lips and act as his interpreter with other people. Dad had me relay a joke to someone. He then informed me I hadn’t delivered the joke with the right intonation. 🤦‍♀️
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
As I finalized my article about him for @theatlantic.com, Dad told our fact-checker he wanted to make sure I was highlighting his FRIENDS’ accomplishments—including the only man Dennis Wilson trusted to care for the Asian small-clawed otters he kept in his swimming pool. bit.ly/45eZIfa
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My Father, Guitar Guru to the Rock Gods
When the greatest musicians of the 1970s needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad was there.
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Adrienne LaFrance @adriennelaf.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
This is beyond great. A wonderful story by @nancywalecki.bsky.social, full of love (and rock stars!) www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
theatlantic.com
My Father, Guitar Guru to the Rock Gods
When the greatest musicians of the 1970s needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad was there.
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Nancy Kathryn Walecki @nancywalecki.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
When Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris, and other 1970s music legends needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad, Fred Walecki, was there. My love song to him in @theatlantic.com September issue: bit.ly/45eZIfa
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My Father, Guitar Guru to the Rock Gods
When the greatest musicians of the 1970s needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad was there.
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 07/08/2025
When the greatest rock musicians of the 1970s needed an instrument—or a friend—Fred Walecki was there. @nancywalecki.bsky.social writes about her father’s work:
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My Father, Guitar Guru to the Rock Gods
When the greatest musicians of the 1970s needed an instrument—or a friend—my dad was there.
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Ray Padgett @raypadgett.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
"Brian Wilson, he made all his records with four tracks, but you couldn't make his records if you had a HUNDRED tracks today." "That ear – I mean, Jesus, he’s got to will that to the Smithsonian." — Bob Dylan RIP Brian Wilson
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